Panthers' Versteeg helps control Jets again

Winnipeg Jets right wing Blake Wheeler (left) slides into the goal past Florida Panthers goalie Scott Clemmensen in the first period Friday in Sunrise. The Panthers won 2-1.

SUNRISE — Kris Versteeg is quickly becoming a Winnipeg Jets-killer.

The right winger, who scored five goals in Florida's two wins in Winnipeg this year, added another on Friday night to help lead the first-place Panthers to a 2-1 win over the Jets in front of 16,773 fans at BankAtlantic Center.

Versteeg missed Wednesday's 4-2 win over Washington with the flu, just the second game the first-year Panther has missed this season. But he made his presence felt in a first period that saw Florida (24-15-11) dominate most of the action.

With Florida on the power play after Alex Burmistrov went off for slashing, Versteeg scored his 20th goal less than a minute later when he took a feed from Mikael Samuelsson and blistered a one-timer from the left dot that beat Winnipeg goalie Chris Mason low on the stick side.

"You can give the credit to (Tomas) Kopecky out front," Mason said. "I looked to the left and couldn't see around him. I looked to the right and couldn't see around him.

"But Versteeg's had our number this year and made a good shot. There wasn't much room there."

Sean Bergenheim scored his eighth goal from just outside Mason's crease at 14:27. He took a pass from Marcel Goc, who had the puck behind the goal, and jammed it past Mason for the eventual game-winner.

The Jets (24-23-6) tied it up on Bryan Little's snap shot at 11:29 of the second period after Versteeg lost control of the puck along the board to Andrew Ladd.

The game was another frustrating loss for the Jets and its anemic offense. Winnipeg, who started the game just three points behind Florida, has scored one goal or less in 30 of its 53 games.

"There is no margin for error," said Jets coach Claude Noel. "It's not only the one goal. You make two mistakes that are in your net and it's potentially the end of the game."

The Jets also fell to an abysmal 0-9 in the second game of back-to-back contests. The club beat Tampa 2-1 Thursday night in overtime.